September 10, 2024

MyNature Animal Tracks MyNature Tree Guide MyNature Animal Tracks MyNature Fishing App

Apps for the Great Outdoors

Much to our surprise we found out that our flagship app MyNature Animal Tracks was selected  by Apple for their “Apps for the Great Outdoors”  campaign.  This isn’t the first time Apple has featured our Animal Track app.  Last summer with the introduction of the iPhone 4 Apple had used the track app as one of their featured selections in their advertising campaign.  Were very pleased to be selected again and find it an honor to be in the spotlight, but more importantly that were helping people connect with the great outdoors and providing an education in nature.

Follow our tracks to the iTunes store and look for this icon. 

With the Mynature Animal Track app you’ll be able to tell the difference between Moose tracks and Elk tracks, Grizzly Bear scat and Mtn. Lion scat. The difference in shape of a Bobcat and Red Fox Track, read animal sign, how to make plaster cast and the best places to find tracks.

Enjoy the Great Outdoors !!

Arbor Day Sale

One of our favorite days of the year , Arbor Day is tomorrow and to help celebrate the occasion we’ll be once again having a BIG app day sale.  Tomorrow and tomorrow only!! all 6 of the MyNature Apps will be on sale for .99 cents, that’s a huge savings of $6.00 off our Animal Tracks and Tree Guide to as high as $9.00 off our National Park series.

Coming off our huge giveaway last week for Earth Day where we had more than 8,000 downloads total over a 32 hour period we wanted to once again offer a special to help promote an “Education in Nature”

If you ever wanted to tell the difference between a Moose track and an Elks track, or  Moose Scat from a Beavers (yes, their somewhat similar)  then you definitely want to stop by the App Store and pick up a copy of the MyNature Track and Scat App on Friday. We don’t skimp on our apps, we have all the mammals you would be interested in identifying included in our guide, over 45 total and each animal featured has a complete library of images including  illustrated track and gait drawings, multiple digital images of tracks in the wild, gait patterns, scat, animal sign, range maps, sound files and an image of the animal itself.

What Would Arbor Day be without a Tree? Pretty boring actually, but no worries we have over 200 trees in our Tree Guide that you would commonly find across North America. Did you know that we were in fact the first to offer a tree app that actually helped you identify a tree.  All you have to do is answer 1 or any combination of 15 easy to understand illustrated questions to give you a list of possible trees that match your answer. The more questions you can answer the more specific the search results will be and in many instances lead you to the exact tree. You’ll  be able to quickly tell the difference between a Red Pine and a Whitebark Pine, what the difference is between a Spruce and a Fir Tree. Identify a tree by the color of its bark or type of fruit. We didn’t skimp on this guide either, for every tree included in the MyNature Tree Guide you can view an illustrated drawing of the leaf or needle, a digital image of the leaf or needle as well as the fall color for many of the trees. We also have digital pictures of each trees bark, fruit, profile and range maps as well.  Were even planning a future update in the next few months and we’ll be adding roughly 24 more trees as well as a new user interface.

If your heading out to Yosemite or Sequoia National Parks this summer then you should definitely be here for Fridays big Arbor Day sale and save $9.00 on our Tracks, Trees and Wildflower app for those parks.  These are park specific guides, only the animals, trees and wildflowers that are found there are included in our National Park series.  We have the same great features from our Tracks and Tree apps combined with  Wildflowers for a very informative app on the flora and fauna of Yosemite or Sequoia National Parks. The wildflower section alone contains over 240 commonly found wildflowers. The only thing more knowledgeable than this app would be a park ranger!! Keep an eye out in the next month for this growing series of National Park apps to include the Grand Canyon, Glacier, Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks.

Happy Arbor Day!!

What’s More Exciting than a Moose Track?

I guess the answer to that question really depends on where you live.  If your out West I’m sure a Grizzly track would undoubtedly take your breath away.  I know that from first hand experience and I can certainly say there isn’t a track I have found that really makes you pay more attention to your surroundings like a Grizzly track does.  But where I live there isn’t anything more exciting than discovering a Moose track .   

There was a time when you would have been hard pressed to come across a Moose track in the Adirondacks but over the past decade they seem to be reestablishing themselves with a resident population. I went on 4 hikes last year within the blue line, as far as 50 miles from home to the north of me and 5 miles to the west.

On three out of those 4 hikes I found Moose Tracks, statistically that’s a HUGE percentage.  It wasn’t like I was going out of my way either looking for Moose tracks or scat, they just happened to be wherever I was going.   There is no way being in the East you can confuse a Moose track with any other animal. Measuring 5 to 6 inches in length not even the largest Whitetail Deer could come close to leaving a track that large.  If your getting into Elk country their tracks average out at 4 to 4 3/4 inches long so there’s still a fair difference in size to be able to tell the two animals apart especially if your finding tracks in the 6 inch range.

One of the best tips  for tracking is to always carry a tape measure. What I use and by far the most convenient in my opinion is a cloth or vinyl seamstress tape.  If you roll it up they take virtually no space in your pack or camera bag. I usually cut mine down at the 12 inch mark there’s no need for you to be lugging along a full 60 inch tape with you. You can just as easily step the tape off at one foot increments to measure strides. I’d be a poor salesman if I didn’t mention that the MyNature Animal Track app has a built in tape measure for just such an occasion.

Getting back to our Moose, you have a much better chance at locating a track if there is some type of water near by, a stream, creek, beaver pond, lake or river.  In the picture to the left you can actually see the difference in the size of a Moose track and a Whitetail Deer. The Whitetail tracks are heading across the image and the Moose tracks are coming out from the water.

Now that the Moose is back to stay in the Adirondacks you’ll inevitably come across a pile of scat at some point in time. Again the sheer size of Moose scat is enough to give away the animals identity. Moose scat has the same familiar shape as other deer scat.  Moose scat measures 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch in diameter and from 1 to 1- 1/2 inches long, more than twice the size of the more commonly found deer scat. Moose tracks and scat are an incredible find in the wilderness and one of the more exciting ones at that. If your lucky enough to come across either you may just get a glimpse of their owner, keep a sharp eye out and your camera at the ready.  Happy Tracking !!

A Yellowstone Hike

A recent project I was working on had me going through some of my pics of a past trip to Yellowstone a couple years back.  I’m always amazed that I can look at a picture and virtually relive that moment, that smell, the thoughts that passed through my mind the exact moment I experienced it.  A first look at a Yellowstone valley and how inviting it was, begging me to come walk through its trees.

The first Bison to captivate my mind, is this where perhaps 200 years ago an American Indian stood in this exact spot  and hunted the ancestors of this powerful animal. 

Walking through sage brush, stirring so many aromatic smells that reach my nose,  smells not found here in the Adirondacks, smells of a different environment, a different way of life, a different world of that I know.  Yes, I remember standing here, the Pronghorn watching me, crouching in the sage, I snap a quick picture and pull some leaves of the bush and place it in my camera bag to discover another day, to inhale the sweet smell and bring me back to this moment.  

I go on my way, there’s a ridge that needs to be climbed. Whether I make it to the top or not isn’t important to me, it’s the journey there that I crave, there’s so much to discover. 

Wolf tracks ! 

I look up and around to make sure I’m still alone, I realize for the first time in my life how minuscule I really am.  I remember the pure excitement when I found this perfect track, the power it represented, the solitude I felt at that moment yet the feeling of being the most alive I have felt. 

 My first Elk shed, has anyone else even ever gazed upon this exact antler?  I wasn’t on a trail and far from the road and my answer was no, no one else could have possibly seen this, no one else is bush whacking their way up this ridge.

  A  bull Elk stood in this exact spot high above the valley floor on this lonely ridge, yet so spiritual. We both shared a moment in time in a space so far far away from my every day life.  I feel as though I’ll always be connected to the animal that gave  this memory to me. Though I’ll never see him he’ll always be in my mind standing there on that cold lonely slope. 

 My goal was the Bighorn Sheep that were still 500 feet above me and a half mile down the top of the ridge but I took so much time exploring the way up that I don’t have enough time to make my destination.  I ‘m not sad, or mad or disappointed, today it was about the journey there, not what was at the end of my walk, but what was along the way.   I have the same feeling today looking out over the valley  through this picture that I had that moment I took it ………. It is truly great day to be alive!!

Make today a memory, Happy Tracking!!